Israeli arrested after threatening to kill Sharon

A 22-year-old Jewish man was arrested near the Jerusalem home of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after threatening to kill him, a police spokeswoman said.

Zvia Cohen said the man was a resident of the small Jewish enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron. She did not name him.

She said the man was approached by a security officer on Sunday as he was putting up posters outside Mr Sharon's residence for an event in Hebron.

She said that, when asked what he was doing, the man replied: "The Prime Minister killed my friend and my neighbour. It's no problem at all for me to kill him."

She said the man attempted to flee but was apprehended after a brief chase. She said he was being held in a Jerusalem police station but was not co-operating with his interrogators.

Security around Israel's Prime Minister was stepped up in May following threats from right-wing Jews to punish him for his support of the US sponsored "road map" peace plan.

In 1995, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli Jew opposed to his efforts to promote Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.

Hebron's Jewish enclave is well known as a centre of Jewish nationalism. Earlier this month two Jewish men from the Hebron area were charged with possessing explosives stolen from the army, apparently in connection with an anti-Arab plot.